Snippets of life
by Trinxy
Summary: Short oneshot ficlets of Castle and Beckett. Each one of them is under 500 words. Challenge for myself to write shorter stories than I am used to. Romance, Angst, Humour... Everything!
1. Chapter 1: Californian Sun

_**I started this in tumblr, tried to write one short story in a day, but then holidays got away. Hopefully I can continue with this once my holidays are over. **_

_**Main goal: keep ficlets under 500 words. **_

_**I hope you enjoy them.**_

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Castle stops on his tracks. It doesn't matter that he knew she was sitting there, waiting for him, he is always blown away by her vibrancy in these kind of social situations. She doesn't need to do much, just be herself, and she shines like a star. She is sitting there, with her dark grey fedora on, under the magnificent sun of California.

She doesn't notice him yet and he takes a chance to silently observe her be.

She is watching the people, walking on the streets of Santa Ynez, looking for a wine tasting to attend. Wearing a pair of red leather cowboy boots she had just purchased here mere half an hour ago with her dark fedora and wonderful grey blowy dress, she just looks like she belongs there.

Suddenly her eyes turn to him and she smiles, creating havoc in his heart.

"Gainey's Vineyard?" she points at the bottle in his hands. "I loved that one."

"I remember," he smiles.

"Come on, let's go," she rushes him and stands up, stepping next to him. She entwines their fingers and places a kiss on his stubbed cheek. "We have another Vineyard to visit."

He nods and smirks.

She is so very pretty.

Also a bit tipsy. And they have at least two of wine tastings waiting for them.

_Will he be able to keep his hands away from his glorious wife in public?_

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**_Review?_**


	2. Chapter 2: Sleep, honey

"Castle," she caresses his name on her tongue as it rolls off easily from there. He turns his head towards her voice, his eyes barely open.

"Kate…?" he whispers, his voice barely audible. "Wha…"

"Shh…" she places her index finger on his sleep-dry lips. "Sleep. Everything is alright."

He closes his eyes again and draws in a long breath.

Cracking one eye open again, he furrows his brow and looks at her observing him.

"Why are you up?" he croaks out, his throat still dry with sleep. "Kate," his voice turns into a whisper.

"It doesn't matter Castle. Sleep. You need it," she whispers back, leaning closer to him. She places a kiss to his cheek, making him close his eyes again. "Sleep, you have a long day tomorrow."

"Yeaaah…" he mumbles for an answer and his breathing starts to slow and deepen and sure enough, he has fallen to the land of the sleep.

She stays there for a long while, hovering over his sleeping form. She draws soft circles on his skin with her fingers. She loves the feeling of his warmth so close to her, somewhere where she can just touch him and feel better in an instant.

When she grows tired of watching him, she places her head onto his chest, where she can hear the firm beating of his heart. His arm instantly snakes around her and the wave of happiness rushes through her. She loves him. So much.

Before she closes her eyes and yields to sleep, she looks down at her swollen belly. "You better not wake me up again. I would really appreciate some sleep, honey."

For an answer, there is a movement of tiny foot inside her belly and she smiles. She closes her eyes and lets the sound of his deep breaths carry into the sleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Paranoia

**Paranoia**

Castle steps out of the break room and throws Esposito a warning look. "Don't even joke about that!"

Esposito just chuckles and continues mocking the author. "I don't know, Castle. Alexis is in college now. She-"

"No! She's still my little girl!" Castle protests.

Beckett chimes in. "How much older were you when you had her?"

Castle gasps. "That … that is completely different!"

"How is that different?" she smirks.

"It just IS!"

Ryan, who walks down from the bullpen and joins the three of them,asks: "What is different?"

Without blinking an eye, Beckett fills Ryan in. "Castle here is afraid that he may end up a grandpa sooner than he'd like."

"Your hair is getting kinda light, dude." Esposito provides his support, making Castle only gasp out loud again and his hands fly to his hair to search for the first gray hair. It makes the three detectives laugh out loud.

Beckett adds with a chuckle, "And let's face it, you're gonna be a big pile of mush when the kid calls you "Gramps" for the first time."

Castle nods to that, a little smile on his face and his hand still in his hair.

Espo breaks his grin and looks at the detective. "Yo, Beckett, what do you think the kid is gonna call you?"

Hearing that Castle turns his head sharply towards Beckett to see her surprised face. She knows Esposito is just mocking her, but that is quite a stab at her. Castle only smiles smugly and a vision of a tiny boy calling his fiancée _'grammy' _fills his mind. Too soon.

"Esposito!" Beckett starts sharply. "And what makes you be so sure that Alexis is even pregnant. This whole scare is only inside Castle's head for now."

"I… I," Espo stutters. "But he started it!"

"I did not," Castle whines.

Beckett sees an opportunity to escape and she takes it. She rolls her eyes at the childishness of the boys and walks towards her table.

There is no way Alexis is pregnant yet. Not now. Not when she needs to break the baby news to Castle herself.

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_I wish this dialogue was mine, but .. it was given to me by my friend who saw it in her dreams. Weird, huh. :) Anyway, the rest is mine there. _

_Review?_


	4. Chapter 4: X marks a treasure

_**X marks a treasure**_

"Castle!" Beckett whines, looking at her boyfriend digging something from the sand. "What on earth are you doing?"

She rises up from her temporary resting place on the top of this large rock lying on his beach in Hamptons and brushes off the sand from her white blowy satin dress. Castle pretends he doesn't hear her and continues his digging.

"Castle!" she yells again, this time stronger, so that he would definitely hear her.

"Yes, yes…" she hears mumbling from the general direction of him and he doesn't provide more information for her.

She shakes her head and steps closer to the hole he has made.

"What are you doing?" she asks again, crouching down next to him, observing his action with a little smirk.

"I'm digging," he provides a short answer.

Beckett nods. "That I can see. Why?"

"There was a big X marking this spot. There has to be a treasure under it…" he growls and digs faster.

Beckett lets throws her head back and lets loose a soft laughter. Shaking her head, she looks back at her man. He's all dirty now, covered with sand and dirt, so focused on digging.

"I am pretty sure there is no treasure in here," she tries to reason with him.

"Beckett," he pauses his hands, looking at her. "If you don't believe in the possibility of a treasure, you will never find it."

This familiar sentence makes her laugh again. That man. Always finds the right words for her, making her laugh and feel at ease.

"Well, carry on then, I'm gonna walk back to the house."

"Okay," she gets her answer and she departs from him, taking time before she actually reaches the house. The weather is just too beautiful to spend inside.

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Castle finally emerges an hour later with a small dirty bag in his hand.

"I told you!" he cheers victoriously and shaking the bag in his hand, strewing dirt and sand everywhere.

Becket frowns looking at the mess he is creating, but still asks. "What is it?"

Castle only smiles a huge smile and lets the contents of the bag fall on the counter.

The bag is filled with tiny colorful marbles.

"Somebody lost his marbles," he comments, making Beckett laugh out loud.

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	5. Chapter 5: Work vs Cookies

**Work vs. Cookies**

"Castle, go away…" she mumbles, not even turning attention to him as fully as she needs to.

"Why?" he throws back, his mouth full of cookies he just picked up from her kitchen counter.

"I am doing paperwork."

"And?"

"You are watching me."

"And?" He repeats the question and grins, revealing the piece of chocolate latched onto his tooth.

"You are distracting me," she sighs.

"And that's bad how?"

"I need to get this done before 6 pm. Gates wants to see the report as soon as possible." She tries to explain again, for the third time. Her head is aching from staring at the papers the whole morning and Castle's antics don't help her at all. She is having big trouble with concentrating.

Castle shuffles closer to the couch where she is sitting at, papers covering almost all possible surfaces.

"I understand you are stressed, and you need it to be done. But you have been working on it the whole morning. You should take a break." He crouches down in front of her, looking into her eyes. "Please? I made cookies." He points to the counter.

The air in her apartment does smell nice from the chocolate chip cookies he baked for her…. No… She needs to work. But … those cookies…

She sighs.

"I guess you are right," she nods. "Ten minutes here or there doesn't matter. I can take a break." She smiles down at him and he extends his arm to help her up.

"Ten minutes is a break too short. Let's make it 20 and I'll help you finish up the report?" Castle offers.

Beckett smirks. "In that case, Gates will gets the report tomorrow. Don't you worry, _cupcake,_ I will get it done."

"Oh, I know you will_, honey_." And he throws her a dirty look. Beckett blushes and heads towards the counter, grabbing a deliciously smelling fresh cookie.

Work can wait.

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	6. Chapter 6: Date at the Museum

"Come on!" Castle hisses, dragging her behind him and trying to not bump into the exhibition pieces that are scattered everywhere in the rooms.

"I can't believe that you did it!" Beckett hisses back, clearly not amused by the situation they are in at this very moment.

"I didn't think it would break so easily!" He protests back and takes another turn in this enormous room.

"There was a big sign there that said "DON'T TOUCH THE STONES". How did you miss that?"

"I thought… I…" he tries to explain, but nothing comes into mind.

"Well, you thought wrong," she grumbles. "Why are we running anyway? I don't think anybody noticed it."

"Kate," his eyes go big. "They have cameras. Everywhere!"

"So." She replies sarcastically. "They can probably see us now as well!"

He stops abruptly, Beckett crashing into his back. "Oh, crap. I didn't think of that"

"Yeah," Beckett sighs sarcastically. "I bet you didn't. So this is how our date gonna be? Running around and trying to sneak out of the Museum of Natural History?"

Castle smiles apologetically, his eyebrows rising up high. "We can walk, too?"

"Come on, Castle," she takes his hand and starts walking towards the stairs. "Let's just take it slow and hope they didn't see you breaking the piece off that big junk of… What the hell was it?"

"Petrified wood… I think?"

"You think?" hisses Beckett.

Castle lets out a long sigh as he follows her upstairs.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"Well, if you really are sorry, then don't do that again." Beckett stops between the first and second floor and pokes him with her finger. "I hope nobody saw what you did. Because I would really like to continue with our date. And besides, I haven't seen the Ocean Life exhibit yet."

Castle smiles to her, excitement crawling back to his features. "Don't worry. I won't do that anymore. Scouts honour."

Beckett rolls her eyes. She has heard that particular phrase before. This doesn't sound promising.

Instead of whining, she starts guessing how much time they have before the Museum guards will get him.


End file.
